TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) continues its advance across Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, with the latest launch in Greece. The test has been widely adopted by various education ministries and teacher training institutes and has been integrated into many existing teacher training programmes all over the world, receiving many positive comments.
‘TKT is seen as a good opportunity for teachers in Peru, because it offers them the possibility of gaining a Cambridge ESOL teaching certificate at a more accessible level,’ explained Idalia Gonzales, Studies Manager, Asociación Cultural Peruano Británica, Lima-Peru. ‘This enhances career opportunities, it is very motivating and developmental and its flexibility has made it very attractive.’
TKT tests knowledge about the teaching of English to speakers of other languages. It offers candidates a step in their professional development as teachers and enables them to move on to higher level teaching qualifications.
Feedback from pretesting
As part of Cambridge ESOL’s TKT pretesting programme, candidates were asked whether they found it ‘a useful test of their teaching knowledge’. Of the 2,800 participants that responded during the first 24 pretest versions administered during October 2004 and September 2005, an overwhelming 92% said ‘yes’. These are some of their comments about the test:
‘This test has been very interesting and an excellent diagnostic tool for us to identify weaknesses and strengths. This way we will be able to define the kind of training we need.’
‘The test is well done and it describes many situations that really happen in the classroom.’
‘I really think that this kind of test makes us better teachers and tests our knowledge. It’s good for our development as professionals.’